1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to tethering devices. More particularly, the invention concerns an apparatus for use with a garden hose to prevent the sprinkling nozzle from being lost after it has been removed from the threaded outlet of the garden hose.
2. Discussion of the Invention
The typical commercially available garden hose comprises a long length of flexible hose having at one end a connector for connecting the hose to a source of water under pressure. At its other end, the garden hose is typically provided with a threaded outlet connector to which sprinkling devices, such as a sprinkling nozzle, can be removably connected.
Often, after the sprinkling nozzle is removed from the hose, it is laid on the ground or on an adjacent structure and is easily lost. The thrust of the present invention is to provide a novel tethering apparatus which prevents the nozzle from being separated from the hose when not being used and then becoming lost or misplaced. More particularly, in accordance with the present invention, the nozzle remains tethered to the hose after being removed from the threaded outlet of the hose so that it is at all times readily available for reuse. The tethering arrangement is specifically designed so that it will permit free rotation of the nozzle relative to the hose connector.
In the past, several devices have been suggested which tether caps to bottles and tubes to prevent loss of the cap. Exemplary of such devices is the device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,155,329 issued to Perdue. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,004,614 a somewhat similar tethering arrangement is disclosed which prevents a closure plug from being separated from an inflatable article. However, these prior art patents have nothing to do with garden hoses and neither discloses nor suggests the tethering apparatus of the present invention as described and claimed herein.